The ‘Paul McCartney is Dead’ Hoax

The car crash at the end of Revolution 9.  The funereal-looking yellow flower arrangement in the shape of a left-handed bass on the cover of Sgt Pepper.  A barefoot Paul, eyes closed and out of step with the other Beatles, in the zebra crossing on the cover of Abbey Road. In the same shot, the Volkswagen Beetle with its license plate reading LMW-28IF. The eerie spoken references to death that could be heard when certain recordings were played backwards.   

Some “clues” were chilling; others – in retrospect – seem silly. Taken all together,

The “Bigger than Jesus” Scandal

After almost fifty years, the grainy, black-and-white footage still has its eerie, disquieting power. A group of teenagers  –  the young men neatly dressed in shirts and slacks, the young women in Peter Pan collars and glossy “flip” hairdos – applaud wildly and cheer each other on as they stamp dozens of vinyl records into  jagged shards and fling the pieces into trash cans.   

It is August of 1966, and John Lennon’s comment that the Beatles are now “bigger than Jesus” has infuriated many Americans, particularly throughout the South.  Christian youth groups gather in parking lots and fields to burn Beatles albums and souvenirs in bonfires; Ku Klux Klan members hoist signs and shout for vengeance, and owners of radio stations rail against “anti-Christian foreigners” and ban the playing of Beatles records. The Beatles camp begins to receive death threats; joining the fray, the Vatican issues an official condemnation.